Proposed Pay Parking - Civic Garden Centre -

North York Centre South

The North York Community Council recommends the adoption of the following report (October 5, 1998) from Councillor Joanne Flint, North York Centre South, and Councillor Milton Berger, North York Centre South:

On July 30th, Toronto Council directed the Ward 9 Councillors to continue discussion with regular user groups of the Civic Garden Centre to gather pertinent information, consult with local residents' associations and put forth recommendations to Toronto Council in October. (Appendix 'A')

To date, non-profit user groups that together involve over 12,500 volunteers have been identified (Appendix 'B'), including The Garden Club of Toronto, Milne House Garden Club, Ontario Rock Garden Society whose representatives have met with Parks staff and local Councillors over the pay parking initiative.

Thousands of volunteers are repeat users of the parking lot. To provide a relief system for them from having to pay would be cumbersome and costly. It would also result in considerably reduced revenue projections.

Many user groups report that a significant number of their members are seniors. Meetings are held during the days and evenings and on weekends. The Civic Garden Centre booking schedule indicates almost full capacity use (Appendix 'C'). Organizations have contributed countless hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars to the care and improvement of the park. A recent example is the Toronto Garden Club's establishment of The Teaching Garden - at a cost of $350,000.00. This amount was raised by the club members with no government assistance. The Teaching Garden is open to the public free of charge and is very popular with school groups.

Other significant facts are:

1.the original Wintario Grant that provided funds to establish the Civic Garden Centre in early 1960's was obtained on the premise that the facility would be a centre for the community;

2.the Edwards family, who gave the land to the City for a park clearly expected their legacy to be enjoyed by citizens at no cost (Appendix 'D');

3.there is no commuter parking problem, and this park has not been identified as a location to promote TTC use. The proposed pay parking scheme is solely to produce general revenue for the Parks Department;

4.the majority of users are not tourists from out of town, but City of Toronto taxpayers. Many live in apartment buildings and enjoy the green open space of the park. They are not wealthy. Many come as families; and

5.there is a minor spill-over parking problem on summer weekends when up to 70 wedding parties per weekend are permitted to use the park to take photographs. The permit fee is currently being reviewed.

As per Council's direction, the Presidents and/or representatives from three adjoining ratepayer associations: Glenorchy, South Banbury and Don Mills Residents Association have been consulted. Their concerns focus on the principle of the public having to pay to use public open space, and the potential for spill-over parking problems for their neighbourhoods. (See letters attached)

Motorists will go to great lengths to avoid paying to park vehicles. Residents in Lawrence Park in the vicinity of Sunnybrook Health Science Centre experienced such a severe spill-over parking problem (including blocked driveways, litter, traffic congestion) that "No Parking Anytime" restrictions had to be installed. This prohibition directly affects residents and their guests and has left many property owners feeling as though they are paying an onerous price for Sunnybrook's pay parking scheme.

Conclusion:

Civic Garden Centre acts as a community centre for groups and individuals whose focus is horticulture, the environment and education. Thousands of volunteers contribute to the financial viability of the Centre through special events and projects. The care and improvement of the park and its facilities that volunteers have contributed has saved the City hundreds of thousands of dollars.

It is costly and difficult to single out the many volunteers of the Centre for relief of parking fees. In any event, they form a large percentage of the users of the parking lot. Therefore, estimates of revenue depend on volunteers and are inflated. Free use of passive park space is an expected norm in our society and the Edwards family members clearly expected their legacy to be enjoyed by citizens at no cost. The suburban location of Civic Garden Centre and Edwards Gardens makes it awkward to access by public transit. Based on experience of Sunnybrook Health Science Centre, it is expected that a pay parking scheme would create a spill-over problem for local residents.

The spirit of people and events at Edwards Gardens and the Civic Garden Centre is educational, inclusive and gracious. Pay parking is seen as a revenue generation scheme that violates this spirit and provides no benefit to the park or its users or volunteers.

Recommendation:

That Edwards Gardens be removed from the list of City parks identified by the Economic Development, Culture and Tourism Department for pay parking.

---------------

(A copy of the Appendices and letters referred to in the foregoing report is on file in the office of the City Clerk, North York Civic Centre.)

The North York Community Council also reports having had before it the following communications:

(i)(October 13, 1998) from Ms. D. Susan Gibson, President, The Garden Club of Toronto, on behalf of 472 volunteers members of the Garden Club of Toronto, in support of the recommendation that the Civic Garden Centre be removed from the list of facilities that are identified for pay parking;

(ii)(October 8, 1998) from Mr. J. Winters, expressing his opposition to the pay parking proposal;

(iii)(October 8, 1998) from Ms. Mara Arndt, in support of Council's rejection of pay parking at the Civic Garden Centre/Edwards Gardens;

(iv)(October 5, 1998) from Ms. Mary Wahl, Glenorchy Residents Association, expressing objections to the proposal;

(v)(October 5, 1998) from Ms. Anna Leggatt, Chairman, Ontario Rock Garden Society, in support of the recommendation that the Civic Garden Centre be removed from the list of facilities that are identified for pay parking;

(vi )(September 30, 1998) from Mr. Ken Dunsmore, President, Don Mills Residents Inc., expressing objections to the proposal and forwarding a survey of the origins of visitors to Edwards Gardens; and

(vii)(September 28, 1998) petition from approximately 58 residents of the South Banbury community expressing their concerns with the pay parking proposal.